Angelique Doyle, Keys to Hope Counselling Service's events co-ordinator and wellness coach, talks with Riley McNally at the ball pit on Wednesday as part of the organization's Wellness Wednesday program for the month of June.--NEWS PHOTO KELLEN TANIGUCHI
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Every Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. for the month of June, people can meet outside the Keys to Hope Counselling Services building on Dunmore Road to participate in community building activities.
Last week, folks played the game Kerplunk and on Wednesday, the organization’s events co-ordinator and wellness coach sat outside in front of a ball pit for an exercise emphasizing communication.
“I wanted to have some options for people for safety and what they felt was safe. So, you can either sit in the ball pit, I have the Lysol spray so I can spray down the balls afterwards, or you can sit on the side in a chair and it’s just about picking up one of the balls and answering the question that goes with that colour ball,” said Angelique Doyle.
A blue ball asks the person to talk about something that made them smile that day, a green ball asks someone to share something people are usually surprised to learn about them, and a yellow ball asks where you want to be in five years.
Doyle says the Kerplunk game last week was focused on resiliency. She says sometimes all the balls fall in real life and people need to figure out how to navigate when that happens.
The COVID-19 pandemic has closed off a lot of people and they may have forgot how to communicate, so Wellness Wednesday’s focuses on communicating with the community because of that, says Doyle.
“I really feel that with everything that’s happened in the world, we’ve kind of become very closed and so we need to learn how to communicate again and this is a great way to learn how to communicate and open those lines of communication,” she said.
Doyle says the event can follow all COVID-19 guidelines outdoors where people can socially distance, wear a mask and use sanitizer that’s provided by Keys to Hope Counselling Services.
Wellness Wednesday is planned for the rest of the month. However, Doyle says they could potentially extend it into the later summer months. She says Keys to Hope Counselling Services is all about community and providing a space to get people to look at the positives can really make a difference.
Riley McNally sat at the ball pit with Doyle on Wednesday afternoon and he says discussing topics with new people teaches you a lot.
“I think just discussing the topics that are at hand and interesting to you is really going to help share your knowledge with the world and then it helps get a network of people to share knowledge back to you because I really feel kind of alone in what I know sometimes, and I want to find people who are also in the know so to speak of my interests and my topics,” he said.
